Scourge of God (wargame)

Scourge of God, subtitled The Campaigns of the Mongolians, 1206-1259 AD, is a two-player board wargame published by Simulations Canada in 1982 that simulates the Mongol invasions of China, the Middle East and Europe. One player commands the Mongolian invaders and the other, called the Empires player, controls their disparate opponents. The game comes with a hex-grid map of Eastern Europe and Asia, 200 counters and a 12-page rulebook, and lasts 11 turns. Each empire stays inactive until the Mongols attack it, and once a country is comprehensively defeated the Mongols can recruit more armies to continue the advance, which leaves the Empires player little to do. The rules therefore suggest swapping sides for a second game, and some critics said it plays best as a solitaire game. Stephen Newberg designed it, with cover art by John Kula and a print run of 1000 copies; Compass Games reissued it in 2018 as a pull-out game in Paper Wars issue 88.